Java as a first language?

When James Gosling recently promoted Java as a first language, not everyone agreed.

What are the characteristics you'd like to see in the first language a student learns? The size of the tool set? The slope of the learning curve? Or something else?

The paradoxical feature of such debates is that they are invariably carried out by seasoned programmers. Maybe we should ask students who are currently getting exposed to their first programming language what their experience is like.

On the other hand, the concept of "first programming language" is a slippery one. In a world where any first grader might have a web site and scripting languages are so widespread, are there really any virgins any more?

Posted by Mike Swaine at 09:49 AM  Permalink